The Beginning of a New Age
by TwilightEye
Summary: Everything was thought to be finished in The World but there is a new threat. Is it a hacker, or something more?


_Come on, Sami. Pick up. Pick UP!_

I gripped the phone tighter as I willed my legs to keep carrying me forward. It had been almost three days

since anyone had heard from her. She left in the middle of class on Monday, fed up with the classes taunts at her obsession with gaming.

"It's the only place I can escape and be how I want to be. Not how others _think_ I should be," she had told

me.

At the time I wasn't paying too much attention, but I realized what she meant once she showed me her world

within "The World". She always seemed the happiest when she was playing. Of course, I didn't know

anything about the game myself, so she would play without her FMD to let me watch too. Sami was my only

friend, and I need her as much as she needed me. I was worried when she left, but I couldn't bring myself to

chase after her. She probably didn't want to be bothered when she was playing anyway. The next day was

when I was worried. Her stuff was still sitting in the classroom when I got there. No one had seen her since

the incident. I don't know what I was thinking, but I easily let the issue slide. _She's okay,_ I had thought.

_Sami can handle herself. _But now I was at a loss. Still no word from her. I called her that night but she didn't

reply. I wouldn't have felt so bad if she didn't live by herself. Her parents had kicked her out when she

turned sixteen and she learned how to live on her own the hard way. No one was there to watch her. No one

to protect her. This morning when I got to school and she wasn't there, I couldn't take it anymore. Even

though it was a little over five miles to her house, I took off running.

_She would've called me. She knows I would have worried._ I rounded the corner a block down from her

house and almost fell over some trash cans at the curb. As I progressed further down the street, I saw her

bicycle at the front of the house. _She's here. Sami's here!_ I took the steps to her house three at a time and

almost crashed into the door. Her white cat, Solar, was sitting in front of it staring blankly. She looked like

she hadn't been fed since Sami left. She meowed loudly and scratched at the door. _It's so cold outside. Why _

_is Solar locked out here?_ I franticaly rang the doorbell and shifted on one foot impatiently. After no reply I

rang again. Trying the door, I realized it was locked. I circled around to the back, but no luck. I shifted aside

the batch of Irises in the garden and recovered the spare key. Luckily, Sami hadn't gotten around to

changing her locks yet. She had a bad run in with some theifs. I stepped inside to find that the house was

colder than outside. Solar flew in behind me but stopped at the bottom of the stairs as though she had hit an

invisable wall. I saw her hair spike up and she let out a low growl. With a menacing hiss she backed up and

bolted out the door. _Her shoes are here_ I noticed as I removed mine and set them to the side.

"Sami?"

No response.

I shifted nervously again and padded to the base of the stairs. Setting one hand on the rail I steadied my

breath.

"Sami?" I called up the stairs.

In respose, I heard a faint, thick sound like static. I started carefully up the steps until I could see the

landing at the top where Sami's room was. The sound was much louder now, and it was distinctively static

from a monitor. I could see a glow on the wall. I sped up the steps and practicaly jumped into the doorway,

stopping abruptly in my tracks. Sami was still in her clothes from Monday, seated in front of her computer

monitor smashing away at the buttons on her controller. She had her FMD on but the screen was just static

over the two way split. She was breathing in short gasps, panting loudly but staying as solid as a stone in

her chair.

"Sami?" I stepped into the room but detected no sign of response.

"Sami," reaching out slightly to touch her shoulder, the furious attack on the controller stopped. Her breath

shortened and became quieter, and in a brief moment seemed to cease. The static grew louder as I watched

the controller slide out of her hands and a high pitched noise erupted all around me. Her whole bodt seemed

to melt away as her muscles gave in and she fell to the floor with a thud.

The screen flashed and became a bloody looking 'GAME OVER'

"SAMI!!"


End file.
